


sharing sweat with all these stranger boys and girls (we'll change the world, we sang, we'll change the world)

by eggosandxmen



Category: New X-Men: Academy X, X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anxiety, Anxiety Disorder, Canonical Child Abuse, Depression, Everyone Is Gay, F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Slow Burn, also we ignore decimation, and i dont want to leave that out, be more chill references, but i dont have ptsd so its not my place to write, decimation never happened, ill try to update once a week!!!!!!!!, itll make sense just read it, laura kind of just shows up @ the school after target x. she knows jubes still tho!!!, m day never happened, slight au!!!, sorta ooc? kinda? idk man its weird, the new xmen stayed together, this is laura centric and domestic, uhhh theyre all trans its focused on v heavily, uhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-28
Updated: 2018-01-29
Packaged: 2019-02-22 22:15:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13176327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eggosandxmen/pseuds/eggosandxmen
Summary: Laura Kinney is not supposed to make friends.But, when a grey girl comes up to her and gives her earbuds and takes her to a lunch table filled with transgender mutant punks... it's a bit hard not to want to.





	1. Chapter One

Laura arrives at the school when she is barely 14 years old.

She was brought in with Logan and lectured by Emma Frost, who icily reminded Logan the no-murder-at-the-school rule and told Laura that she would notify the students that she was here. She hid in the vents for a few days after that, scoping everything out, before being dragged to lunch by Jubilee.

It's loud and insane and Laura covers her ears the minute Jubilee ran to sit at a table with older students- Chamber, Husk, M, Skin, and Synch, if she remembers their files right. She keeps her hands around her ears, moving to sit in the corner, when a hand reaches out and pokes her shoulder. She jerks away but turns around, staring face to face at a girl with gray skin and eyes with no pupils.

“HI!” she yells over the pandemonium. “I’M CESSILY! DO YOU WANT TO BORROW MY HEADPHONES?”

Laura stars at her. 

Cessily seems to take it as a yes, producing a banged-up pair of earbuds attached to an even more banged-up iPod. “IT HELPS WITH THE NOISE!” she shouts.

Laura, against her better judgement, slips them on, and Cessily chooses a song from the seemingly endless list. 

_Go!_ A voice screams from her headphones, more lyrics blasting out after it.

_One, two three, take my hand and count to three, because you look so fine that I really wanna make you mine-_

She lets a hint of a smile escape her, and Cessily grins, taking her hand. Laura jerks away again, and to her credit she does not try again. “FOLLOW ME!” she yells, and weaves through the students to a table in the back.

 

She slips between a boy with a red t-shirt and dark hair and a literal golden boy, looking at ease despite the screams ringing out behind her.

“YOU’RE PROFESSOR LOGAN’S KID, RIGHT?” Golden boy says.

Laura nods, but doesn’t speak. Cessily gives her a pad of paper. “IF YOU DON’T WANT TO YELL, JUST WRITE! HALF THE KIDS DO THAT ANYWAY! ANYWAY, WHAT’S YOUR NAME?”

Laura scribbles out _X-23._ Her real name is a secret, not trusted to odd strangers who own old iPods and dirty lunch tables.

“CAN WE CALL YOU X?” the brunette next to Cessily asks, apparently not at all bothered by his new companion’s designation. 

Laura nods and slides into the empty seat at the table, despite every nerve in her body screaming to get as far away from these strange children as possible.

A severe-looking person with choppy, dyed-blue hair passes her a note.

_My name is Noriko, but you can call me Nori. You know Cess already, Julian’s the cocky looking one with floating hands, Santo’s made of rocks, Vic is green, Sooraya’s the quieter one, and Josh is the golden boy at the end._

Laura reads, keeping the music blaring in her ears.

“WHAT ARE YOUR PRONOUNS?” Josh screams.

Laura gives him a confused face.

“He’s asking what you want to be called. Your gender.” Cessily explains as the noise dies down slightly.

Laura thinks for a moment before writing out _I was created as a male._

“Alright, are you cool with being a dude?”

Laura debates with herself for a moment. _No. I am a girl._

Cessily leans to high five her from across the table, and Laura finds herself returning it. 

“Now we’re tied for girls and boys! Nori, San, you two need to catch up.” she teases.

Santo flips her off. “By the way, X, me and Nori are non-binary. Just they for us, yeah?” They say, making guns with their thumb and pointer finger. 

Laura nods. 

“We’re basically the trans group, so you’ll fit in well. We’ve got a GSA here-” Julian starts.

A GSA? She writes out.

“Gay-Straight Alliance. It’s pretty awesome, there’s snacks, and one time we made Down With Cis t-shirts. Also, you can take off the earbuds. Everyone’s gone, but Mr. Summers is cool with us showing you around.” 

Laura nods and pops them out, handing them to Cessily. “We’ll hook you up with a phone, Q sells ‘em for 10 bucks and a newly written essay. They owe me, I basically wrote their whole final for Miss Munroe’s class.” Josh explains.

“Who is Q?” Laura asks, softly.

“Quentin Quire,” Cessily whispers, “A.K.A the _biggest_ asshole ever to grace JGS. But they’re rich, and they can get you most anything you need. And we love them.”

“ _I_ don’t.” Santo snorts, and Cessily playfully whacks their arm. 

“Anyway, X,” Nori says, “We’ll show you your room. You’re bunking with Soory, but we all basically share rooms anyway. Is that okay?”

Laura nods, and the others bicker quietly among themselves until they reach Sooraya’s room.

A few posters hang on the walls- bands. Something called The Front Bottoms take up a large part of the wall, and a band named Against Me! Had a full poster next to Sooraya’s bookshelf. The other end of the room- Laura’s side- was completely blank.

“You need help moving your stuff?” Julian asks, flexing his muscles in bravado. 

Laura shakes her head, picking her locket out of her pocket and putting her duffle on the ground. “This is all I have.” 

Julian hides his shock well. “Alright. Cool.”

“You can come with us tomorrow night if you want. We’re going to sneak out and go watch Star Wars?” Cessily adds as she walks out the door.

“I would enjoy that.” Laura whispers.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura and Sooraya bond and the X-kids play some games.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i want them to be safe there'll be angst LATER i swear

It is not until later that night that Laura’s training catches up with her.

Sooraya is fast asleep, her radio crooning out Ed Sheeran, but Laura cannot sleep. Scenarios continue to run through her head, and she runs her hands across her tattoo absentmindedly as she crunches numbers. There is a 86.9% chance that one of these children will grow to be disgusted by her. There is a 43.2% chance that the Facility will come and take her back, and a 74.8% chance that they will try to take her back but fail. The odds are stacked against her, but there is always the chance that the Facility will not even bother with their failed weapon. Rice always told her that she was expendable. She hopes the other Facility heads believe that, too.

She marvels, for a moment, at the novelty of her bed. She used a sleeping bag when she stayed with Megan, and nothing when she was at the Facility. This was the first time she had really had a proper bed.

Childishly, she bounced a little, grinning. 

She can’t shake out habits, though, and drags her blankets onto the ground, making a ball of blankets under the bed. SHe falls asleep after an hour of trying to stop her fears from making their way to the forefront of her brain.

When she wakes up from a nightmare, stuffing a fist into her mouth to stop her screams, Sooraya wakes up too. Laura makes herself smaller and prays that she won’t see her.

“Laura?”

_Fuck._

“Are you alright?” Sooraya asks. “Can I touch you?”

No, she thinks, to both, but she does not speak. Sooraya stands and whispers. “I’ll get the Nightmare Cocktail for you, okay?”

She doesn’t know what a nightmare cocktail is, but she does know that Sooraya smells of wildflowers and pencil shavings and that she feels almost safe. 

Sooraya slips out and comes back barely two minutes later with a glass smelling of mountain dew.

“It’s Mountain Dew, Mountain Dew Red, and Nyquil. It takes like hell, but it’s easy to fall asleep after it.” Sooraya explains.

Laura chugs the whole thing in one gulp, and Sooraya tells her about Laura Jane Grace until she falls asleep in her blanket-nest.

 

Julian wakes them the next morning, banging on the shut-tight door and yelling “BREAKFAST!”

Sooraya pulls on her niqab and turns to Laura, her eyes sparkling. “Have you ever had Mr. Summers’ pancakes?”

“No-” Laura begins, and with that Sooraya takes her hand and runs to the kitchen.

A hundred hungry children sit around, on counters and tables, fighting over cereal boxes and bargaining for places on the stove. Sooraya brings Laura back to the corner they had sat at yesterday. The others are already awake, talking and laughing and chugging coffee.

“Hey, Soory, hey, X.” Cess says, her head sagging on the desk. Sooraya waves and Laura sits down next to her.

“Do we have training?” she asks, directing the question at Nori.

“If by training you mean Powered Mario Kart, then yeah, we do.” Nori says, grinning a little.

“What is- what is Powered Mario Kart?” Laura asks, cringing a little. Asking questions like that is a great way to get more questions.

“Jesus Christ, did that lab of yours not have a Wii?” Julian asks.

They know about the lab?

Laura shakes her head and looks down. 

“I'm kidding, dude, don't worry. Also, do you mind us calling you dude?”

She shakes her head again.

“Right, cool. Anyway, Mario is a video game, you probably know those, and Powered Mario Kart is when we play, but we use our powers to beat the shit out of each other while we do it.” Julian explains.

“It hurts and normally we all end up bruised, but it's also the greatest way to play Mario Kart.” Cess notes, refilling her coffee cup and standing up. “Come on, we're going to be late.”

For her first time ever playing a video game, Laura is not doing too badly. She's mashing on the buttons with both hands with her legs choking out Santo, them swinging her around as hard as they can to get her off.

“WHAT-” they start, and then cough, “THE FUCK?”

Julian laughs, one hand on his controller and another holding Nori in the air with telekinesis even as they try to shock him. Nori, apparently not one to quit, finally manages to shock out his controller. Julian is sent to Exile- the corner of the room, where Josh and Vic both sit, playing cards. 

Cessily and Sooraya duel back and forth, trying their best to control their players on screen, while Laura gets thrown off Santo into a wall. She can hear an audible crack, but doesn’t stop, just foot claw-climbs her way back up to continue choking Santo. Santo wins by three points. This is the most fun she has had in years, however, so she doesn’t mind losing.

Santo adds their win to a chart hanging on the wall. Julian seems to be the reigning champ, followed by Santo, and then the others. Laura, at the bottom, has zero. 

Santo notices her looking. “Don’t worry, dude. You might get to second place... Not past me, though.” they tease, slapping her on the back good naturedly. She tenses a little, but grins sheepishly back.

“Have we got Danger Room now, Nor?” Cess asks, taking the schedule Nori had been holding.

“I don’t think so. Just class.” Nori replies, peering over Cessily’s shoulder.

“Which class?” Laura whispers.

“Uh… genetics? Wait, no, that’s tomorrow. Right now, we’ve got English.”

“Professor Summers teaches that.” Cess explains. “It’s really cool.”

“Room A042.” Nori says. “I’ll lead the way.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura's first class with the terrifying Cyclops.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry i was late!! ive been so busy. extra long for the wait!!

Nori leads the group through a maze of hallways that the children seem to have no problem keeping straight. Laura stared around at different posters covering the walls of the hallways- from vintage bands to anti-drugs- and made sure to follow the others as she stared around.  
Eventually, they stopped, at a door marked English. Nori pushes it open and the others file in, sitting down at tables in no particular order.  
Laura hangs back, unsure of what to do, before Cessily turns to her.  
“You can sit next to me, if you want. There's no real order around here.”  
Laura nods and sits down, noticing Cessily’s pile of books. “Do I need those?” She asks.  
“Nah, Professor Summers’ll give em to you. He’ll be here soon.” She replies, just as the door swings open.  
A lanky man stands there, hair messily combed over his head. A pair of red glasses sit on his nose and he carries a book under his arm.  
Laura recognizes him, now- this is Cyclops. She knows of his power, she'd read his file- he could nuke entire worlds, held the power of an entire dimension in his eyes. She stiffens.  
He places down his book and begins to speak.  
“Hi, kids.” He grins sheepishly. “Sorry I'm late.”  
The kids offer acceptance and he continues.  
“So! Homework was to read chapter 7 to chapter 10, and write down your reactions, who's got them?”  
Cessily, Sooraya, and Josh whip out carefully written notes. Julian, Santo, Victor, and Nori take out crumpled papers with messy script. Laura stays still.  
Cyclops looks at her for the first time, his eyebrows lifting. “New kid?”  
She nods.  
“Oh, yeah, Jeannie told me about you. Come on, get your book. What's your name?”  
Laura stands quietly for a few moments before Cessily jumps in.  
“Her name’s X, Mr. Summers. She doesn't talk much.”  
If he's surprised, he doesn't show it, instead handing her the book.  
“Can someone give an explanation of the book for her?”  
Sooraya clears her throat.  
“The books about this kid, called Max, and her family. They have bird wings because of some weird genetic testing gone wrong, and they've all got other abilities, too. This book focuses on their lives in the run from the School- their lab- and the Erasers, evil half-wolf creations who want to kill them. The rest of the kids are Fang, Iggy, Nudge, the Gasman, and Angel. Max is basically their mom.”  
“Except for Fang.” Julian giggles. “She's not his mom.”  
Sooraya glares at him. “Also, there's some lab experimentation, some fighting, and some death, so if you don't want to read that, we’ll find a different book.”  
Now, if there is one thing she does not want to read about, it's lab experiments- but she cannot just refuse. So she takes the book and slides back into her seat.  
Mr. Summers takes a marker and writes DEBATES out on the board.  
“So, we’re doing a side project on the government in here, X.” He explains. “I'm sort of the history teacher, too. So we're doing a debate today on mutant rights. Since, obviously, no one wants to play the anti-mutants, I'll be filling the role. Everyone, get into groups. X, you can go with Cessily. The debates are due next Monday!”  
There's a screeching as the kids love their desks around, and Laura’s thrown into writing down notes for her team- Julian, Cessily, and Nori- on the mutant rights case of 1976.  
She writes as nicely as she can, trying to keep up, and- impossibly- she even begins to enjoy herself a bit. She is almost upset when class ends.  
They pack up rather quickly and Laura tucks her book under one arm. Cessily had gone and taken it, highlighting chapter titles and placing warnings next to each.  
Chapter 20- lab stuff, Chapter 46- death, and onwards.  
Laura thanks her as they walk out, but Cessily waved it off.  
“Dude, I did it for everyone. Don't want anyone getting sad over a book, y'know?”  
Laura nods as Cessily waves to Mr. Summers.  
“Now we can go hang out in the dorms, or go to the kitchen. Votes?” Nori asks.  
“Kitchen!” everyone else yells. Cessily takes Laura's hand and smiles. “I'll show you where it is.”  
Laura blushes slightly when Cessily looks away, dragging her along to the kitchen.  
When they reach it, a pink-haired kid sits on the counter, chugging milk out of the carton.  
“Hey, Quen.” Julian says, giving a small salute.  
“‘Sup, Teek?” Quen replies, burping.  
“Teek?” Laura whispers to Nori.  
“That's Quentin’s nickname for Jules. He's telekinetic. Telekinesis is shortened to TK, and from TK comes Teek.” Nori explains. “Quen’s weird like that.”  
Quentin jumps off the counter, stopping in front of Laura. Blue light flares from their eyes and Laura has a rather uncomfortable feeling of someone beating on her brain with a shovel.  
The blue blinks out and Quentin grins at her. “Yeah, that’d be me. Don't worry, your dirty little secrets are locked up pretty tight.”  
Laura cocks her head at them. “Telepath?”  
They nod. “Now, since you’re new, you probably don’t know about the Quentin Quire’s Black Market for Wayward Mutants. I’ll get you anything you need- and Cessily seems to be thinking about phones. And love potions.” they laugh, sending finger guns to Cessily’s blushing face.  
“Anyway,” they continue, “Follow me.”  
Laura looks to Nori, and they shrug, turning to walk after Quentin.  
Their “Black Market” turns out to be an old janitor closet, covered wall to wall in boxes. An omega sign sits spray painted on the door, and an old desk covered in graffitti is in the center of the room.  
CD’s, vinyls, cassettes, download codes, old radios, and iPod Shuffles sit in the nearest few boxes to Laura. Quentin smiles when they see her looking.  
“That’s the crown of my collection. We’ve got everything- A to Z.”  
Laura nods, and Cess pulls out a phone from a box, complete with a set of bulky headphones. She puts them on Quentin’s desk and they inspect it.  
“That’ll cost you one for Summers and one for Grey, yeah? By the 18th.”  
Cess sighs but nods. “I got you.”  
Quentin grins and kicks their legs onto the table.  
“Pleasure doing business. That’s already got some basic music downloaded on it, talk to me if you want more.” They say, looking to Laura and smiling s bit.  
Cess waves and they walk out, waiting at the door for Nori and the others to finish their purchases.  
“So, meet me and the others tonight, and we’ll go watch the new Star Wars. Then we’ll get some food, and we’ll be home before anyone even sees.”  
Laura nods.  
“See you!” Cessily says, walking off. “Class is over, you can go wherever.”  
New place to explore.  
She sets off to the left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> your comments are always appreciated!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kids go watch Star Wars! Laura and Logan interact! These kids are rebel rebels! 
> 
> Sorry I was so late, life things got in the way. Extra long for props to you guys!

She passes hallways of different rooms, feeling the different wallpaper on the wall. Kids walk in clumps, whispering as she walks past, hiding their words behind their hands.  
That's Professor Howlett’s clone.  
Heard she grew up in a lab.  
Doesn't speak-  
Creepy-  
She's not even human-  
Not even real.  
She doesn't stop, keeps moving along, memorizing new places and new smells and new things. There are fifteen exits she's counted, and vents leading everywhere. She can smell blood from someone's nosebleed, and it seems there's a room that's only being used by a blonde woman, floating cross legged and upside down, screaming nonsense words in a deep voice.  
She keeps walking.  
She has almost the entire school memorized when she slaps into someone, banging her shoulder into their head.  
She turns around, ready to help them up, and comes face to face with Logan Howlett.  
He’s a few inches shorter than her, about to her chin in terms of height. He glares up and squints.   
“Shouldn’t you be in class, X?” He says.   
Laura shrugs, putting her hands up with the gesture like she had seen Julian do. “It is out for the day.”  
He rolls his eyes. “Summers. He always lets them out early. Hang on.” Turning around, he yelled at a group for children. “HAWKINS! CARVER! DEEDS! OKONKWO! SABHNUR!”  
Eyeboy, Hindsight, Morph, Oya, Genesis. She had read their files. They were all high-level danger- but right now, Eyeboy in the middle of telling a story, one of his eyes widening for dramatic affect as he turned- they just look like children.   
“Yeah, Professor Logan?” Morph says, his face the picture of innocence.  
“If you don’t get your asses to class, I’ll cut off your legs and leave you here.”  
The four boys shoot off, pushing each other and laughing, while Oya waves a bit. Logan shakes his head but waves back, smiling a little, as she follows the others.   
Laura just stares. This was the man she was grown to be. She had him for a skeleton in the back of her closet for years. Her orders were to kill him on sight. He was meant to be dangerous, a weapon, like her- but here he was, running a school for children with nowhere else to go. It confuses her, first and formostly. But, oddly, it also gives her hope.  
She turns and walks away before Logan looks at her again, dragging her knuckles along the walls back to Sooraya’s room.  
When she gets there, Sooraya in on the bed, propped up by her pillows as she reads a thick old book. It is cold, and classes are done, so she figures she can take her sweatshirt and still have time to explore the rest of the building.  
“Hi!” she says, looking up. Laura blinks. “Hello.” she says, and goes to her duffle, pulling out an old sweatshirt.  
She puts it on and turns to go out the door before Sooraya speaks again. “You’re coming for Star Wars, right?”   
She nods, and Sooraya continues. “We’re gonna go around 12, okay? And it’s about 9:45 right now. So, if you want, you can hang out here? We’re leaving at ten to get fries from the Five Guys downtown. You should change into something comfortable, it’s going to be a long night.”  
Therein lies a problem, of course. In truth, she only has three different shirts- her mother’s hoodie, Logan’s flannel he had lent her, and the Texas jersey she had found stuffed in her duffel. She wears her hoodie over the pair of jeans she had found with the shirt.  
“I will be fine.” she says.  
Sooraya nods. “Okay. Let’s go get the others.”  
The others turn out to be assembled in Julian and Josh’s room. Josh’s side in covered in books and pictures, old CD’s, and video games. Julian’s side seems to be thrown together, clothing littering the floor. His entire shelf is covered in flowers and plants. Cessily, Nori, Vic, and Santo sit on the floor with a deck of cards while the other boys mess with various knick-knacks in the room. Sooraya waves and Nori smiles.   
“Alright, everyone here?” They say, looking over the others. Everyone mutters agreements. “Okay. Out the window, everyone.”   
They climb down first, landing on a tree and shimmying down. Sooraya dusts herself down, followed closely by Julian, holding onto Josh and floating. Cessily and Santotake the tree, and Vic grabs onto the wall.   
Laura simply jumps, landing on her feet with a crack.   
Julian stares. “Did you just break your ankle?”   
She shrugs, picking up Josh’s backpack off the ground and slinging it over her shoulder.  
Nori spreads their arms. “Start running, kids, before Miss Frost sees us missing.”  
Without a pause, they shot off, the other kids chasing them and shoving each other. Laura walks after, keeping her head down and listening up for scents that were not the others.  
“Come on, X!”   
She runs after them, through a small path covered by a group of rocks with drawn on grafitti. They cut through a group of trees before Julian stops, grinning widely as he sticks his hands up, showing off the cemented road in front of him.   
“Onward and upward, folks. Last one to Five Guys buys!”   
The others take off again and Laura rushes with them, passing Josh and Sooraya and leveling with Nori.   
“He's kidding, you know. We have a fund for five guys. He's got it in Josh’s bag.”   
Laura shrugs and Nori speeds up, cracklig with electricity.   
“Thing is-” they say, swerving around to stare at her, “nooneeverbeatsmeatraces!”   
With a whoosh, they pass the others in a blur.  
When the rest of them reach the burger joint, Nori’s already reserved a table and has a few packets of French fries in front of them, along with seven or so burgers and shakes.  
“Wasn't sure what you like, so I just got one of what the staff said.” Nori says, looking and Laura. “And don't worry, Keller, I put an unholy amount of ketchup on yours.”   
Julian shoves them good naturedly and they laugh. The other kids sit down and begin eating, making jokes and throwing fries at each other.  
The burger tastes good and even though she ends up with bits of ketchup on her hoodie from where Cessily had pelted her with fries, she did not mind too much.  
They snuck into the back of the theather, sneaking past the ushers and climbing into a nook in the top of the rows. Sooraya runs out and comes back with an armload of candy and popcorn, passing it around to everyone.   
The room darkens and Cessily does her best to explain the entire Star Wars franchise in the span of the tree minutes previews run before a starry pattern appears on the screen and Nori shushes her.   
The movie seems to focus on the villain trying to woo over the hero- “Thats Kylo,” Cessily says, “but we call him Kyle because he's stupid and edgy.”- and the hero trying to get an old man to return with her to save the universe. There are numerous inaccuracies, but overall the movie seems entertaining, and she smiles when the pilot and the man with the jacket kiss at the end. She mostly watches the others, smiling or frowning depending on the parts. Josh seems the most invested, whispering furiously about the Siths being disgusting and swearing that if Rey ended up going dark he would kill Hollywood himself.   
They sneak back out by midnight and run home through the woods again, ducking into Julian and Josh’s room by before the sun came up. Julian passes out in a few moments of being in his room and Josh escorts the others back to their respective rooms, still arguing with Sooraya over the movie.  
By the time Laura and Sooraya reach their room, it's almost two, and Sooraya buds her goodnight before falling asleep in about three minutes. Laura bounces around, wondering about Star Wars and milkshakes for a few minutes, staring at the ceiling, before her eyes close too.


End file.
